It has to be said; I’ve taken full advantage so far of the fact that Harry, at 2, is happy pottering around in a play kitchen and keeping shop, oblivious to the fact that these will rapidly become activities associated with girls, and swiftly abandoned in favour of games requiring bravery, danger and copious amounts of dirt. Still, there’s one form of cooking that seems to unite men the world over, and that’s ownership of the BBQ; a testosterone-fuelled activity if ever there was one.
With that in mind, I’ve repurposed a small thrift shop table into a brand new grill for Harry (see below for the Before pics and stages). With build-your-own kebabs that double as weapons, a hodgepodge of food made from salt dough and FIMO, and grocery-store paper plates and cups, it’s proving to be a big hit as you can see. Leftover household items like an air vent, silver spray paint and a cheap baking tray gave the semblance of a gas BBQ, and a hefty dose of imagination from Harry has filled in all the gaps…
This was the starting point; a small wooden table I picked up for £8 at a charity shop. It looks like it was once a play worktable, but came with no accessories other than a broken shelf, which I repaired and restored.
I painted the surface with black gloss paint and sprayed the legs and shelf silver, before nailing on a louvred air vent for the grill itself. A sheet of dolls house stone-effect wallpaper provides the backdrop; I used PVA to apply this then varnished for longevity and to ward off wear and tear.
The kebabs are made from a cheap skipping rope; I unscrewed the heads, removed the rope and glued in lengths of dowel which I again sprayed silver (our whole garden has little patches of silver spray across it – I’m hoping my husband hasn’t noticed..). I used a mixture of painted salt dough and FIMO for my kebab food, wiggling each onto the dowel before baking to ensure an easy fit. These have been the biggest draw of all for Harry; the art of slipping them on and off, rearranging and – yes – tasting each piece, can be lots of fun. Here’s a tip; if you ever decide to make a corn-on-the-cob using salt dough, find a good movie and arm yourself with a glass of chardonnay before you settle down to roll a hundred individual kernels…
Finally, how to fill the myriad of pre-drilled holes? Luckily I found this set of four thin-handled cooking implements in our local pound shop, and rolled each in brightly coloured gift wrap before varnishing. Hey presto, now Harry and his father can grill side by side this weekend (it’s a toss up whose food will be more edible!).
Kate, this is BRILLIANT! My kids have a nasty plastic toy bbq in their playhouse but they don’t really play with it. I think next summer I need to attempt something similar. I love the way you made it all from other bits and pieces. The air vent for the grill is inspired. I’ve just showed this to my husband, who is said “oh! that’s really cool.” – high praise indeed!
Ha, that made me laugh! See – it’s definitely a man thing
Thank you so much.. and yes, do give it a whirl; it’s amazing what you can repurpose, and kids seem very non-discriminatory when it comes to quality …Though I confess I did doubt my sausage-modelling skills when Harry asked why we were cooking a poo… *sigh*
Fantastic! Harry is a lucky little boy! So creative…so cute! Love it! My Grandson would love to have one of these!
Hi Kate,
I really love Harry’s bbq-grill. To use an air vent is a brilliant idea!! He looks so cute in his apron!! Now I hope there is no rain for his bbq-party…
A big hug from Germany
Sonja
Thanks Victoria and Sonja; Sonja – it has rained here in England non-stop since I finished the BBQ so we must have been tempting fate!
I have noticed the silver spray liberally dotted around the garden. What do you mean the fake food will be as tasty as mine-utter cheek! Where is my apron and chef’s hat?
Ooops…
I can’t believe you rolled individual corn kernels….with only one glass of wine…
Both your dedication and abstemiousness are astonishing. ps all the best lawns have silver paint on them, mine is recovering from the custom paint job I did on my bike to stop it being stolen.
brilliant!
Great! I love your (or Harry´s to be precise) bbq as well as the toy-kitchen! I only wish I were as skillful as you are for I´ve got one 3 yr old him chef and one almost 2 yr old her chef…nevertheless, thanks for inspiration!
It’s fab. How long did it take to make? And any ideas for teacher end of term gifts? Nicola
Hi Nicola, thank you! I suppose it took about 10hrs in total, including the rather dodgy food modelling…. I did it over about 2 weeks in evenings and free time (remember that?!), and doing it in fits and bursts like that allowed me to mull over how I was going to do it and add new ideas along the way – most of my projects tend to be like that; several things on the go at once. Re teacher gifts; great question… I read an alarming article this week saying people now spend a fortune on these and the pressure is huge – but also read another piece by teachers saying that gifts made or inspired by the kids themselves mean the most and are very memorable (and of course are cheap/free..). How about heading to a pottery cafe for the kids to paint a mug, fill it up with penny sweets and add a tag saying ‘Mrs X you are the best because you taught me how to tie my shoes this term / made spelling seem simple / have pretty hair / don’t make me wash my hands too often etc… A mug for staffroom tea + sweets + a very personal (and funny) thank-you sounds like it might do the job..
I love reading your blog, even though my “kids” are now 21 and 18. Harry is a lucky boy to have such a clever mum!
First of all… Harry is adorable…and very lucky indeed. Secondly…you are brilliant!
Oh, how creative! Fantastic job!
Wow this is incredible! I remember making something like this as a child (tacked together with A LOT of sellotape!). These toy food stations are just so much fun I bet Harry loves it. Just writing a post which will refer to one of your previous posts (about the blackboard paint)…
http://wp.me/p2tZo9-4O Congrats Kate! You have been nominated for a Kreative Blogger Award! Best Karen
Thanks so much all for the lovely comments
Betty, that made me smile; I’m hoping that Harry grows up as slowly as possible so that the inevitable day that he politely declares my creations to be ‘a bit lame’ is as far away as possible!
Brilliant project! I love this
What a great idea! I would love to try to make something like this for my Kindergarten class. Any objections if I post this on my blog?
Hi Sarah, no please feel free, just link it back to the original; glad you liked it! Kate
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This is fantastic. We built a play kitchen from scratch for our daughter, it would be great to build something like this for our son. I absolutely love it. So glad to happen upon your blog. I’m subscribing in Google Reader.
Thanks Mindy, and welcome! I’d love to see the kitchen you built for your daughter – it’s so much lovelier to make something when you can rather than buy it, isn’t it? What Harry really wants next is a play garage that he can actually drive through…I think that might be one project too far for my skills
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I love it! If only I was half as creative and talented, my daughter would have far better and less expensive toys to play with. Well done!
Wow, that is all I can say is Wow!!!
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Oh my gosh, I’m dying of cuteness Kate! I love the salt dough food, what a genius idea. Harry is so lucky to have a mommy like you.
Looks awesome. Bunch of questions here – Can you share a recipe for the salt dough you used for the foods? And did you paint it after, or are the bright colors from the dough/fimo? And how do the pieces hold up to playtime? I’d love to make some for my son, but I worry about him *actually* tasting them… Is it safe to accidentally munch on?
Hi Sara, the recipe I used for the salt dough is pasted below – really, really simple thankfully! I painted and varnished the dough afterwards, which I used for the sausages, burgers and onion rings… once baked it’s rock hard and fine for kids to know or suck on as it won’t break or crumble. Pre-baking the dough is try pliable but tastes very salty so kids quickly spit it out! For the kebabs I used fimo which was lovely to work with and brilliant for colour – but of course much more expensive than homemade dough. As for durability I’m super impressed; both the salt dough and the fimo food has stood up to being chewed, thrown around, dropped on stone floors and dragged around on a scooter, as well as the more conventional plan of being used on the play BBQ…. good luck!
http://www.busybeekidscrafts.com/Salt-Dough-Recipe.html
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Can you do these in adult sizes??
Haha, brilliant! That made me choke on my drink laughing (note to self: stop trying to multi-task until co-ordination improves…)
So cute. Here’s my version. Thanks for the inspiration!
http://punkrockpaperscissors.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-good-friends-baby-is-celebrating-his.html
Genius – I love it!
Love this!!! Would you be willing to share dimensions for the height if the grill top as well as width and depth? I haven’t been lucky enough to find a table to Upcycle so will build my own grill:)
Angela… wow – build your own?? Now’s THAT’S impressive! Please send me a pic/link when you’re done – I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Mine is approximately 55 inches high (to the grill top surface), 65 inches long end-to-end, and about 2 foot deep. If you’re building from scratch, my inclination would be to find the cooling rack or louvre vent you want to use for the BBQ area itself and then work around it with the other dimensions. I found 55 inches was the perfect height for Harry – at nearly 3 – to reach everything and ‘cook’ with style, but again if you’re free to decide your own dimensions, have a think about what the ideal is for yours. Good luck!
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It’s really amazing!!!
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I believe you are my new favorite crafty idea person for childrens’ products! Beautiful, well thought out play spaces!
Hi Marilyn, thank you so much, that made my day
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You are so talented!!! Im seriously jealous of your son, coz I think he must have an awesome childhood! I don’t have kids.. yet, but I truly felt in love in your blog! You should publish a book with all your great ideas!!
Hi Eva, thank you so much
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This is wonderfully brilliant! I love everything about it.
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